Virgo

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. A constellation in the region of the celestial equator between Leo and Libra.

n. The sixth sign of the zodiac in astrology.

n. One who is born under this sign.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

proper n. : A constellation in the zodiac, supposedly shaped like a maiden. It contains the bright binary star Spica.

proper n. : The zodiac sign for the virgin, ruled by Mercury and covering August 23 - September 23 (tropical astrology) or September 16 - October 15 (sidereal astrology).

n. Someone with a Virgo star sign

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. A sign of the zodiac which the sun enters about the 21st of August, marked thus [♍] in almanacs.

n. A constellation of the zodiac, now occupying chiefly the sign Libra, and containing the bright star Spica.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. An ancient constellation and sign of the zodiac. The figure represents a winged woman in a robe holding a spike of grain in her left hand. One of the stars was called Vindemiatrix, or by the Greeks Protrygeter—that is, precursor of the vintage. At the time when the zodiac seems to have been formed, 2100 B.C., this star would first be seen at Babylon before sunrise about August 20th, or, since there is some evidence it was then brighter than it is now, perhaps a week earlier. This would seem too late for the vintage, so that perhaps this tradition is older than the zodiac. Virgo appears in the Egyptian zodiacs without wings, yet there seems no room to doubt that the figure was first meant for the winged Assyrian Astarte, especially as the sixth month in Accadian is called the “Errand of Istar.” The symbol of the zodiacal sign is ♍, where a resemblance to a wing may be seen. The constellation contains the white first-magnitude star Spica. See cut in next column.

n. a large zodiacal constellation on the equator; between Leo and Libra

n. (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Virgo

n. the sixth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about August 23 to September 22

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

Middle English, from Latin Virgō, from virgō, virgin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin virgō ("maiden, virgin").

Examples

Virgo is blessed in its relationship to the natural fourth house … it is the place where the kitchen finds itself first elevated to the powerful realm of human reason, and where the dexterity of the human hand, allied to the five senses, can engineer perfection.

The whole resembles more a cup than the human figure; but when we remember the symbolic meaning of the cup, that seems to be an obvious explanation of the name Virgo, which the constellation has borne since the earliest times.